Long Branch man faces life in prison for 2013 murders

A Long Branch man is found guilty of murder and weapons offenses for the March 2013 slayings of Maria Yolanda Catejo-Munoz, 35, and Fredis Orlando Ventura, 33, both also of Long Branch, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.

Carlos I. Menjivar, 26, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole when he returns for sentencing on charges of murder and weapons offenses for the March 24, 2013 murders of Catejo-Munoz and Ventura.

The guilty verdict is on two counts of first-degree Murder, one count each of third-degree Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose and fourth-degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon and comes after a 2-month trial before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman.

Menjivar faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole when he returns for sentencing on February 1, 2019.

More From The Jersey Shore: